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Researching Business Ideas

Diagrams | Matrices | Thinkers

Questions​

  • What repetitive tasks am I doing that could be automated?
  • Which customer pain points am I not addressing yet?
  • How can I leverage my existing products or services to create new offerings?
  • What emerging trends in my industry could I capitalize on?
  • Are there any underserved niches within my target market?
  • How can I use AI to improve my current products or services?
  • What data am I collecting that could be monetized or used to create new value?
  • Are there any successful business models from other industries I could adapt?

Customer Research​

The key is to start broad and progressively narrow your focus as you validate demand and discover specific problems to solve in your niche. AI tools can help generate initial ideas, summarize insights, and find relevant data to guide your research.

Kickstart Research with AI​

Tools: Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude

  • Use AI tools to generate keywords and ideas to start your research based on an initial product description
  • AI can help come up with ideas and angles you may not have considered

Find Niche Subreddits​

Tools: Anvaka

  • Use the Anvaka to find niche subreddits related to your keywords
  • Explore connected subreddits to discover hidden niches and problems to solve

Validate Subreddits​

  • Check subreddit size and growth using Subreddit Stats
  • Look for subreddits with solid, consistent growth in recent years

Gauge Market Demand on Amazon​

  • Search for books related to your niche on Amazon
  • Many books on the topic with good reviews indicates existing demand
  • Use Google Trends to see if search volume is growing over time for your niche
  • Install the Glimpse Chrome extension to see estimated monthly search volume
  • Promising niches will have significant (30K+) and growing monthly searches

Deep Analysis with AI Tools​

  • Use Gigabrain to summarize key insights from Reddit posts about your niche
  • Explore the Meta Ads Library to find successful products with long-running ads
  • Try Exa for context-based searches to find companies solving problems in your niche

Get Market Statistics​

  • Use AI assistants like Perplexity and Gini to surface relevant market research and statistics for large enough niches

Industry Analysis​

Ideas by industry or sector.

Real Estate Optimization​

  • Acquire a portfolio of residential or commercial real estate properties
  • Use AI to analyze market trends, predict optimal rent prices, and identify the most profitable improvements to make to each property
  • Implement AI-powered property management software to streamline maintenance requests, automate rent collection, and optimize tenant screening
  • Utilize AI energy management systems to reduce utility costs across the property portfolio

Agricultural Efficiency​

  • Purchase farmland in strategic locations with favourable soil and climate conditions
  • Deploy AI-powered precision agriculture tools to optimize crop yields, reduce water and pesticide usage, and predict harvest times
  • Use AI to constantly monitor market prices and automatically sell crops at the optimal time to maximize profits
  • Implement AI-driven vertical farming in greenhouses to enable year-round crop production

Logistics and Supply Chain​

  • Acquire warehouses in key distribution hubs and outfit them with AI-powered automation systems
  • Use AI route optimization to minimize fuel costs and delivery times for the trucking fleet
  • Implement AI inventory management to predict demand and optimize stock levels, reducing waste and maximizing efficiency
  • Offer AI-optimized fulfilment services to ecommerce companies, using the optimized warehouses and logistics network

Energy Production​

  • Invest in solar and wind farms in areas with abundant renewable energy potential
  • Use AI to predict optimal power generation based on weather patterns and automatically adjust solar panel and wind turbine angles
  • Implement AI energy storage optimization to minimize waste and maximize profits by storing excess energy and selling it back to the grid during peak demand
  • Acquire energy efficiency companies and use AI to help their clients reduce power consumption and costs

Checklist​

Industry Analysis

  • Identify key trends and disruptions in the target industry
  • Analyze how AI and automation are impacting or could impact the industry
  • Assess the current state of technology adoption in the industry

Process Value Mapping

  • Define the value propositions of existing business models
  • Identify unmet customer needs or pain points
  • Brainstorm how emerging technologies could enhance or create new value propositions

Technology Capability Assessment

  • Evaluate relevant emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, IoT etc.
  • Assess the maturity and potential impact of these technologies
  • Identify technology synergies that could create unique advantages

Data Strategy

  • Analyze available data sources within the industry
  • Identify opportunities to capture new data through products or processes
  • Develop strategies to leverage data for decision-making and innovation

Organizational Structure Optimization

  • Assess current organizational structures and their limitations
  • Design agile, cross-functional team structures to foster innovation
  • Develop strategies to break down silos and improve information flow

Culture and Mindset Shift

  • Identify cultural barriers to innovation and technology adoption
  • Develop strategies to foster a culture of continuous learning and adaptability
  • Create incentives and rewards for innovation and risk-taking

Human-AI Collaboration Model

  • Identify areas where AI can augment human capabilities
  • Design workflows that optimize human-AI interaction
  • Develop training programs to upskill employees for AI collaboration

Ecosystem and Partnership Strategy

  • Identify potential strategic partners in the technology ecosystem
  • Assess opportunities for open innovation and collaboration
  • Develop strategies to leverage partner capabilities and reach

Rapid Prototyping and Testing

  • Design experiments to test new technology-enabled business models
  • Develop metrics to measure the impact and success of innovations
  • Create feedback loops for continuous improvement and iteration

Scalability and Future-Proofing

  • Assess the scalability of new business models across markets
  • Identify potential future disruptions and how to adapt to them
  • Develop strategies for continuous innovation and adaptation

Context​